The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Siren’s Treasure

Series: All That Glitters #3 (standalone within the series)

Author: Suzanna Fowers

Genre: Young Adult, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Thessa’s fiery spirit is the scandal of the seven seas! Her dream to use her siren voice for more than luring sailors to their doom provokes Poseidon’s legendary wrath, but when her sovereign father falls deathly ill, she’ll do anything to save him, even strike a desperate bargain with the sea witch to retrieve Undine’s Blade. The dagger must be returned to his trident before the sea swallows the sun in three days, or he’ll die… not to mention she just might dissolve into seafoam! Ah Depths! How has Prince Raggon fallen so far? No one would believe how he’s become a notorious pirate captain with a price on his head, and now he’s blindsided when the same land witch who destroyed his kingdom wants to force him into a cringe-worthy engagement. Having fled the loving tentacles of her arms, he sets sail toward the legendary Undine’s Blade with desperate purpose—to free his brother from a curse slowly transforming him into a monster. When Raggon fishes a wild-haired, frustratingly captivating woman from his nets, he recognizes the mermaid whose lips drew him in like a bewitching song. Knowing she’ll come in handy, he throws her in his cabin… doing everything in his power to keep her from using that siren voice against him… again. As they battle through treacherous waters, heated glances become stolen kisses, but can enemies truly trust each other when ancient curses demand a price? With two sea witches plotting against them and time running out, Thessa must make an impossible choice: plunge the magical blade into the heart of her enemy—the one that beats for her—or risk condemning both their kingdoms to destruction.- summary from Amazon

Well, it turns out I really like pirate books! There aren’t too many options for YA pirate books, and this one was amazing!

The world was incredible- I was immediately drawn in! I especially like Raggon’s, as he is a pirate prince, and that world was just so incredible.

Thessa’s world was also interesting, but not much time is spent there. I did love how the magic and lore of both these worlds came together and were big parts of their history, but the stories got changed by their respective cultures, which caused some strife.

The world was great and the characters were wonderful and I had a blast reading this book, but for me the romance was lacking. Raggon and Thessa were cute together, but it was insta-love, which I am not a fan of. I loved the scenes where they got to know each other (especially the training scene) but the other parts had me scratching my head. I didn’t feel enough time was dedicated to them actually learning about each other. Also there was a massive focus on looks. I think physical atteibutes were too focused on, which is the thing that really left the romance wanting for me.

I did love Raggon’s relationship with his brother, Tobias, and the Duke. I thought it was cute and well done. I hope more books come out in the future about Tobias, because he was such an intriguing character.

This book also had some Greek mythology. Thessa’s father was Poseidon and the bad guys were Circe and Scylla.

I like how this book changed the original tale of the Little Mermaid. Undine’s story closely resembled the original tale, while Thessa’s story is made into her own with Undine’s mirroring Thessa’s in the background.

Siren’s Treasure is a an intense Little Mermaid retelling with a clean romance and open seas adventure!

*I received an ARC copy from the author and all opinions are my own.